Smile! It’s Leslie-Anne Huff!

“I never want to retire. I always want to act.”

By: Elgin Zulueta, AJ Press
Make-up: Paula Mauricio
Photographer: Mau Mauricio

People like to reach out to celebrities. I enjoy exchanging ideas and discovering why they are stars. And most of the time, I feel that they are the same like us, passionate regular people going for that “moment”.  These “moments” we have with them turns into a bond of friendship. In varying ways, you learn that you have the same experiences that are simply amazing. The same thing happened when I met actress Leslie-Anne Huff.

Leslie-Anne Huff has been acting in Hollywood for some time. She’s been cast in a couple of Disney shows such as Mackenzie Falls, Sonny with a Chance, Suite Life on Deck, and Pair of Kings, and has been featured in CSI NY, 10 Things I hate About You, Chuck, Greek, and Miami Medical.  She has also done theatre acting having been featured recently at the Vagina Monologues. Recently, Leslie-Anne has been cast in multiple episodes of ‘Sonny with a Chance’ season two as ‘Penelope’ opposite Disney stars Demi Lovato and Sterling Knight. The show started airing last May 2, 2010 on the Disney Channel.

“I’ve always had a love affair with acting,” says Leslie Anne Huff. The young actress currently is an active member of "Room to Improv", an Asian American improv group which performs unscripted scenes that tell stories and issues that are comical and funny to various audiences. Comedy has always been her forte. “I have to work a little harder at drama than at comedy because I had a great fun childhood. I had not experience anything traumatic that I had to go back to when I have dramatic scenes,” says Leslie. As early as five years old, she started doing solo performance, right in their family room and her most loyal audience would be her parents. A few years later, she’d progressed to a broader audience.

Despite being in the field for so long, Leslie-Anne insists she doesn’t even think about switching careers. “I’m learning and enjoying a lot,” she says with a smile. In fact, she voluntarily shares an advice when you go to auditions to just be confident and do your best.

I’m still auditioning every day, on the grind, on the hustle, looking for the next project. The biggest thing I realized is that there will always be that one break that will take my career to the next level. You have to be in it for the long haul. I never want to retire. I always want to act.

 She further points out that “you have to enjoy every part or process of auditioning because 9 times out of 10, you really won’t get the role you auditioned for. Enjoy each one and learn something out of it,” says Leslie. She sees every audition as an opportunity to network and build relationships with the casting director, director or even the producer. Leslie also points out that May and June are normally the ‘upfront’ where networks showcase their new shows to the advertising world while January to April is the most busy time for actors to go to auditions for new shows.

When she’s not filming or going to auditions, Leslie-Anne serves as a director of "Kamay at Puso" (Hand and Heart), a non-profit organization that provides social services, medical assistance and education to local residents of Madapdap in Pampanga, Philippines. Madapdap Therapy Center provides physical therapy to children who were toxic waste victims, suffering from congenital heart disease, leukemia and cerebral palsy. In 2006, ‘Kamay at Puso’ received a Certificate of Appreciation from Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti and also the Gerald Phillippe Award, which was given by General Electric Company.

‘Kamay at Puso’ solely depends 100% on donations in order to sustain the therapy center. They have been doing fund raising events such as a ‘Host a dinner’ and producing comedy shows such as the “Comedy Night Benefit” last May 1 at Mbar in Hollywood featuring different stand-up comedians, and a collaboration benefit with ‘Room to Improv’ on May 7 at Two Roads Theatre in Studio City.

This pretty, funny and intelligent Pilipino-American actress would like to be remembered as “someone who did something to do some good and showed kindness”. She adds that she “wants to be someone who will continue to grow as an actress and share my blessings to others.”

Without a doubt, I already see Leslie-Anne that way.